Something in the summer and fall must have set the ideal conditions for ornamental berries, as this December there was a proliferation of all sorts – beauty-berry, holly-berry, almost every berry. They came into their own and set the sky aflame when suspended in mid-air. In the photos here, I believe it was a hawthorne tree that provided the dramatic fire vs. sky scene.
For some reason, I’ve never quite cottoned to the idea of growing berry bushes for ornamental purposes, mostly because the payoff and the show came at the tail-end of the season. By that point I needed a break and the long slumber of the garden was a welcome rest. That’s one reason I don’t think I’d fare well in a monotonous climate without room for dormancy. A spell off is necessary to recharge the batteries, to realign what’s important. And to refresh all the energy needed to create all these berries. Making fruit is one of the most draining things a plant or tree can do.
In Boston, there are a couple of beauty-berry bushes in the Southwest Corridor Park that have matured in the last few years, and their gorgeous showing of bright purple berries in October is delightful to behold. I’m still not quite in enough adoration to reserve space for them in our yard, but having them in Boston is a treat. It’s the same sort of home-away-from-home planting that gives me great enjoyment from afar – like a magnificent magnolia tree, or a clump of spiderwort in full bloom. Glorious to see in their brief show, but not worth the majority of time they spend simply taking up space and storing up the energy needed to put on such a show. For now, I watch from a distance.
